4 November 2010 “Manuscript found in...” California – a presentation of Has’ film with the participation of the “master of stories”
The light of the City Hall Tower’s lighthouse on the Main Market led many lovers of literature and film to the Cinema “Pod Baranami” yesterday. At 10 p.m. a unique presentation of Wojciech Jerzy Has' legendary work titled “Manuscript found in Saragossa” began there. The film perfectly enriches the Festival‘s formula “Other worlds – other languages”. The guest of this year’s Conrad Festival, “the master of stories” – Rabih Alameddine – talked about the masterpiece of Polish cinema before its projection. As he reminded, he saw the Polish director's film and was enchanted by it a few years ago at “Castro Theatre” in California. In introducing the viewers to the atmosphere of Has’ film story, in an unusual and very honest way he spoke about... Facebook, his holidays, bananas and the monkey which stole his very expensive glasses... and his fascination with story-telling. Allamedine to a troubadour and commercial traveller, a story-teller and teller of non-fiction and fiction stories, for whom the act of discussion itself is a story. The narration being an entanglement of fiction and fact, individual expression, modern myths and literary eruditions fascinated the public completely, who despite the late hour, filled the Cinema “Pod Baranami” entirely. In the projection, the author of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi also participated, which whom the public med in the cinema the previous evening and who also spoke about the amazing penetration of elements of the western and Arab culture into her work.
Today at 8.30 p.m., Rabih Alamediine – the master of stories – will continue his gripping and absorbing story about narration, the role and obligation of the writer, chatting and naivety of speaking, about Lebanon, the United States, the story at “Drukarnia” (1 Nadwiślańska Street) in the meeting with Grzegorz Jankowicz, the author of the text “Everything for nothing” placed in the Festival’s catalogue, which brings closer to the Polish reader the wonderful novel “Hakawati” and the figure of the Lebanese-American writer.
